"EPA Downplays Dredging Risk to Bay City Water Supply"

"Nearly a month after the onset of a navigational dredging project in the Saginaw River that some worry will send dioxin-contaminated sediments downstream toward the intakes for Bay City’s water supply, EPA officials responded to citizen concerns by announcing it would not test the water for the toxin.

"I can understand why people would be concerned," EPA Superfund manager Wendy Carney, said in a phone interview. "But there are a lot of issues out there. We as an agency need to consider all resources and where our priorities should be placed. There are a number of issues that people are concerned about."

Carney said that despite a 1978 agency report that warns that the migration of dioxin from Dow Chemical's Midland plant could endanger local water supplies, the agency had determined that the ongoing dredging project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doesn't show a 'strong likelihood' of impacting the Bay City water intake."

Eartha Jane Melzer reports for the Michigan Messenger June 15, 2009.